Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he has appointed Sacramento resident Genevieve Shiroma, 64, to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates privately owned public utilities in California. Shiroma, a Democrat, has been a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board since 1999, serving again as its chair since 2017, the Governor’s Office said in a news release. She was chief of the Air Quality Branch at the California Air Resources Board from 1978 to 1999, and was the elected director of Ward 4 of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District from 1999 to 2018.
Newsom also reappointed Berkeley resident David Hochschild, 47, to the California Energy Commission (CEC), the state's main energy policy and planning agency, where he’s been a member since 2013. Hochschild was vice president of external affairs at Solaria Corp. from 2007 to 2013 and co-founder and director of policy at the Vote Solar Initiative from 2002 to 2005, according to the state. The Democrat also served as special assistant to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown from 2000 to 2001 and was a member of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission from 2007 to 2008.
Both positions require Senate confirmation and offer $153,689 in compensation.
Newsom has also appointed three people to the five-member Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery, set up in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research by last year’s Senate Bill 901 and mandating that the commission host public meetings to ascertain short- and long-term catastrophic wildfire costs, and create a report on how to address these costs and drive equitable distribution to affected parties. Their mission in preparing this report includes potentially recommending changes to the law.
The governor’s appointees, all Democrats, are Dave Jones, 57, of Sacramento; Michael A. Kahn, 69, of San Francisco; and Carla Peterman, 40, of Oakland. Jones was California insurance commissioner from 2011 to 2019; a state Assemblyman from 2001 to 2010; and a member of the Sacramento City Council from 1999 to 2001. Kahn, counsel at Crowell and Moring LLP since 2009, was chair of the California Independent System Operator from 2001 to 2005 and chair of the California Electricity Oversight Board from 2000 to 2001. Peterman was a CPUC member from 2013 to 2018 and a CEC member from 2011 to 2012; and a researcher at the University of California Energy Institute from 2006 to 2011 and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2008 to 2010.
All three positions are unpaid and do not require Senate confirmation. The commission’s other two appointees will come from the Legislature, with the Senate Committee on Rules and the speaker of the Assembly each making one appointment.
